When B.C. raised speed limits on some highways this week, following the lead of states and provinces across North America, it reflected a growing consensus: faster is often safer.

B.C.’s top limit is now 120 kilometres per hour, the highest in Canada, but provinces from Nova Scotia to Saskatchewan have raised some limits to 110 km/h in recent years — in line with trends in the U.S., where speed limits have steadily increased since the mid-90s.

The higher speeds restore limits that were lowered during the 1970s energy crisis in a bid to save fuel, rather than lives.

“There’s certainly skepticism,” B.C. transportation minister Todd Stone admitted Thursday, a day after increasing limits on 1,300 kilometres of rural highway. “But the facts are the facts. When you have motorists all generally moving at the same rate of speed — as opposed to people moving much faster or much slower than the natural flow of speed — you’re going to have a safer corridor.”

Although the RCMP and B.C. Association of Chiefs of Police oppose the change, arguing speed is a factor in many crashes, Mr. Stone and other proponents point to a growing body of research that suggests higher speed limits can actually reduce collisions.

Drivers naturally travel at a speed that feels safe and comfortable according to the type of road and weather conditions, regardless of the posted speed, they argue. Imposing a speed limit that is below this instinctual rate means law-abiding drivers disrupt the flow of traffic.

“I think there is a realization that traffic tends to find its own flow. And if you’re going below that, you might be the one posing the safety risk,” said John Bowman, a spokesman with the National Motorists Association, based in the U.S.

“Up until the 1970s, at least in the U.S., interstate highway speed limits were quite high. They were set at 70 to 75 miles per hour [112 km/h to 120 km/h]. That’s what those roads were designed for in the 1950s,”

In the mid-’70s, the energy crisis prompted a slowdown across North America, including Canada, where it coincided with a switch to metric.

“They passed a national maximum speed limit, which was 55 mph and that was done for fuel conservation purposes. Not because there were safety concerns. And that lasted here for approximately 20 years.”

In the ’90s, the U.S. dropped the nationally mandated maximum, allowing individual states to increase speed limits on major thoroughfares, and many have returned to 70 or 75 mph. The result, Mr. Bowman said, is that studies found collisions have been reduced.

Not every province is convinced. Mr. Bowman noted that Ontario, in particular, is notorious for its use of speed traps.

“We keep preserving these political speed limits. Some say it’s because of money,” said Chris Klimek, the founder of Stop 100, an advocacy group urging Ontario to raise its highway speeds. “But it’s also a lack of courage. Politicians don’t have the will or the courage to admit that their own speed limits are incorrect or wrong.”

Mr. Klimek would like to see appropriate stretches of Ontario’s road network rise to 130, arguing that the increase wouldn’t necessarily encourage drivers to push even higher speeds.

They’re not involving the engineers in in setting the speed limits. It shouldn’t be a political decision. It should be completely bi-partisan engineering study

“They’re not involving the engineers in in setting the speed limits,” he said. “It shouldn’t be a political decision. It should be completely bi-partisan engineering study.”

Advocates of increased limits suggest road planners should not abolish all limits, but rather follow something called the 85% principle; set the speed limit at the same speed that the 85th percentile of drivers actually use.

According to this concept, the common sight of an endless string of drivers exceeding the limit is not considered the failure of the driver: rather, it’s an example of an unreasonably conservative speed limit.

“I’m surprised this happened in B.C. before it happened in Ontario,” said Ian Tootill, the founder of SENSE BC, a group that has been pushing for changes to the limit for almost 20 years. “Ontario should be primed for this. They have this tremendous highway system there confined by this arbitrary speed limit of 100 km/h on some of the best highways in the world.”

“Certainly, I understand the concerns relating to speed,” Mr. Stone said. ‘‘But I think what we’re seeing around the world and North America as well is a growing recognition of the fact that it’s not so much speed, in and of itself, that causes collisions, but variations in speed.’’

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